An Inland state Senate candidate is facing a backlash after a statewide group condemned her questionnaire answers about a fellow Democrat as rooted in “racist” and “anti-LGBTQ” attitudes.

Kris Goodfellow’s written responses to questions posed by the California National Organization for Women “revealed a mind filled with racist and classist tropes and attitudes layed upon a foundation of anti-LGBTQ sentiments and false accusations,” according to a California NOW position statement issued Jan. 31.

California NOW endorsed Abigail Medina, the other Democrat in the 23rd Senate District race in the March 3 primary. Her answers also led the Democratic Club of Rancho Cucamonga on Feb. 12 to rescind its endorsement of Goodfellow. A group letter to Goodfellow said her comments “do not fit with the values of our club.”

In an emailed statement, Goodfellow wrote: “I am sorry about the recent controversy over some things I said about my opponent. I have tried to take the high road … it was a mistake to deviate from that path.”

Goodfellow said she only wanted to raise questions about Medina’s electability.

Kris Goodfellow, a Democrat from Redlands, is running for the 23rd Senate District seat in the March 3 primary. (Photo courtesy of Marc Piron)

Abigail Medina, a Democrat, is running for the 23rd Senate District seat in 2020. (Photo courtesy of Ty Washington)

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Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, a school board member and Realtor from Yucaipa, is running for State Senate in District 23. (Photo courtesy of Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh)

“My intention was to answer a question about viability, and I now understand my comments may have been misinterpreted and were hurtful.”

Goodfellow, Medina, and Republicans Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, Cristina Puraci and Lloyd White are running in the 23rd, which represents the Pass, Hemet, Menifee, and San Jacinto in Riverside County as well as Big Bear City, Big Bear Lake, Highland, Loma Linda, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, most of San Bernardino and Yucaipa in San Bernardino County.

The seat is open because incumbent Republican Mike Morrell of Rancho Cucamonga is leaving due to term limits. The top two vote-getters in the primary, regardless of party, advance to the Nov. 3 general election in a district with a near-even split in voter registration among Republicans and Democrats.

Goodfellow, a former New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Associated Press journalist who lives in Redlands and co-owns a search software company, responded to California NOW’s questionnaire in hopes of getting its endorsement. She wrote about the importance of finding a candidate who could win the purple district in November.

Bogh – “the likely Republican opponent” – is “a Mexican-American woman who … married her high school sweetheart and has three beautiful kids,” wrote Goodfellow, who described Bogh as “heavily involved in the Mormon church,” “well-known for her generosity,” and “basically a nice person” with a wealthy family “steeped in local Republican politics.”

Medina, by contrast, “is a ticking time bomb of scandal,” Goodfellow warned.

While Medina also is a Mexican-American woman who married her high school sweetheart and had five kids, “here is where the similarities between these two women end,” Goodfellow wrote.

“In 2016, while running (for Assembly) and featuring her family in ads, Abigail Medina was having (an) affair with her paid female campaign manager,” Goodfellow wrote in her answers, which were released by NOW. “She subsequently left her husband and five kids. She lost custody of those kids and they no longer speak to her.”

Goodfellow also questioned Medina’s education and work background, as well as the legitimacy of her nonprofit efforts.

In a phone interview, Medina denied having an affair with her campaign manager and said her nonprofit work is above board and that she is on a leave of absence from the Inland Region Equality Network to focus on her campaign. Medina said she has joint custody of her one non-adult child and is on speaking terms with all of her children.

“I’m OK with politics. That’s how it is,” Medina said. “But (the questionnaire) mentions my family and organizations (in a way) that can be negatively impacted by these lies. It’s hurtful.”

“ … It’s sad and it hurts. But it only motivates me to push harder (to win the primary).”

Medina said she came out in 2017 and did not run for office in 2018 because she was going through a divorce and wanted to focus on her family.

In its position statement, sent via email by California NOW President Kolieka Siegle, the organization wrote: “We have never come across a questionnaire containing such vitriol toward another candidate, irrespective of party, let alone from someone calling themselves a progressive.”

The statement added: “Women of color already face significant barriers in running for office. The sentiments expressed by Kris Goodfellow’s (sic) in her endorsement questionnaire exploit these barriers for her own gain.”

In an emailed statement, Bogh said: “I’d like to thank my Democratic opponent for saying so many nice things about me and my family, and for focusing on my deep ties to the district and my desire to serve everyone in our community.”

Goodfellow has been endorsed by a number of other organizations, including the California Democratic Party, California Teachers Association, the California League of Conservation Voters and the California Nurses Association.

Jeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write and stunk at math. He grew up in Vermont and he honed his interviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper or plastic?” After graduating from Syracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at The Watertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so much she called him “John” at the end of an interview. From there, he went to Annapolis, Maryland, where he covered city, county and state government at The Capital newspaper before love and the quest for snowless winters took him in 2007 to Southern California, where he started out covering Temecula for The Press-Enterprise. Today, Jeff writes about Riverside County government and regional politics. Along the way, Jeff has covered wildfires, a tropical storm, 9/11 and the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino. If you have a question or story idea about politics or the inner workings of government, please let Jeff know. He’ll do his best to answer, even if it involves a little math.

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